History

Main article: History of the Roman Empire

For a chronological guide, see Timeline of Roman history.
See also: Campaign history of the Roman military and Roman
Kingdom
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Animated overview of the Roman territorial history from the Roman
Republic until the fall of its last remnant the Byzantine Empire in 1453 at the
end of the post-classical era.
Transition from Republic to Empire
Further information: Roman Republic

Caesar Augustus portrayed in the Augustus of Prima Porta

(early 1st century AD)
Rome had begun expanding shortly after the founding of the Roman
Republic in the 6th century BC, though it did not expand outside the
Italian peninsula until the 3rd century BC. Then, it was an "empire"
(i.e., a great power) long before it had an emperor. [10] The Republic
was not a nation-state in the modern sense, but a network of towns
left to rule themselves (though with varying degrees of independence
from the Roman Senate) and provinces administered by military
commanders. It was ruled, not by emperors, but by annually
elected magistrates (Roman consuls above all) in conjunction with the
Senate.[11] For various reasons, the 1st century BC was a time of
political and military upheaval, which ultimately led to rule by
emperors.[12][13][14] The consuls' military power rested in the Roman legal
concept of imperium, which literally means "command" (though
typically in a military sense).[15] Occasionally, successful consuls were
given the honorary title imperator (commander), and this is the origin
of the word emperor (and empire) since this title (among others) was
always bestowed to the early emperors upon their accession. [16]
Rome suffered a long series of internal conflicts, conspiracies,
and civil wars from the late second century BC onward, while greatly
extending its power beyond Italy. This was the period of the Crisis of
the Roman Republic. Towards the end of this era, in 44 BC, Julius
Caesar was briefly perpetual dictator before being assassinated. The
faction of his assassins was driven from Rome and defeated at
the Battle of Philippi in 42 BC by an army led by Mark Antony and
Caesar's adopted son Octavian. Antony and Octavian's division of the
Roman world between themselves did not last and Octavian's forces
defeated those of Mark Antony and Cleopatra at the Battle of
Actium in 31 BC. In 27 BC the Senate and People of Rome made
Octavian princeps ("first citizen") with proconsular imperium, thus
beginning the Principate (the first epoch of Roman imperial history,
usually dated from 27 BC to 284 AD), and gave him the
title Augustus ("the venerated"). Though the
old constitutional machinery remained in place, Augustus came to
predominate it. Although the republic stood in name, contemporaries
of Augustus knew it was just a veil and that Augustus had all
meaningful authority in Rome.[17] Since his rule ended a century of civil
wars and began an unprecedented period of peace and prosperity, he
was so loved that he came to hold the power of a monarch de facto if
not de jure. During the years of his rule, a new constitutional order
emerged (in part organically and in part by design), so that, upon his
death, this new constitutional order operated as before
when Tiberius was accepted as the new emperor.
In 117 AD, under the rule of Trajan, the Roman Empire, at its farthest
extent, dominated much of the Mediterranean Basin, spanning three
continents.
The Pax Romana
Main article: Pax Romana
The so-called "Five Good Emperors" of 96–180 AD
Nerva (r. 96–98)

Trajan (r. 98–117)

Hadrian (r. 117–138)

Antoninus Pius (r. 138–161)
Marcus Aurelius (r. 161–180)
The 200 years that began with Augustus's rule is traditionally regarded
as the Pax Romana ("Roman Peace"). During this period, the
cohesion of the empire was furthered by a degree of social stability
and economic prosperity that Rome had never before experienced.
Uprisings in the provinces were infrequent but put down "mercilessly
and swiftly" when they occurred.[18] The success of Augustus in
establishing principles of dynastic succession was limited by his
outliving a number of talented potential heirs. The Julio-Claudian
dynasty lasted for four more emperors—Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius,
and Nero—before it yielded in 69 AD to the strife-torn Year of the Four
Emperors, from which Vespasian emerged as victor. Vespasian
became the founder of the brief Flavian dynasty, to be followed by
the Nerva–Antonine dynasty which produced the "Five Good
Emperors": Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, and the
philosophically-inclined Marcus Aurelius.
Fall in the West and survival in the East
Main articles: Later Roman Empire and Fall of the Western Roman
Empire
See also: Barbarian kingdoms and Byzantine Empire

The Barbarian Invasions consisted of the movement of (mainly)

ancient Germanic peoples into Roman territory. Even though northern
invasions took place throughout the life of the Empire, this period officially
began in the 4th century and lasted for many centuries, during which the
western territory was under the dominion of foreign northern rulers, a notable
one being Charlemagne. Historically, this event marked the transition
between classical antiquity and the Middle Ages.
In the view of the Greek historian Dio Cassius, a contemporary
observer, the accession of the emperor Commodus in 180 AD marked
the descent "from a kingdom of gold to one of rust and iron" [19]—a
famous comment which has led some historians, notably Edward
Gibbon, to take Commodus' reign as the beginning of the decline of
the Roman Empire.[20][21]
In 212 AD, during the reign of Caracalla, Roman citizenship was
granted to all freeborn inhabitants of the empire. But despite this
gesture of universality, the Severan dynasty was tumultuous—an
emperor's reign was ended routinely by his murder or execution—and,
following its collapse, the Roman Empire was engulfed by the Crisis of
the Third Century, a period of invasions, civil strife, economic disorder,
and plague.[22]
In defining historical epochs, this crisis is sometimes viewed as
marking the transition from Classical Antiquity to Late
Antiquity. Aurelian (r. 270–275) brought the empire back from the
brink and stabilized it. Diocletian completed the work of fully restoring
the empire, but declined the role of princeps and became the first
emperor to be addressed regularly as domine ("master" or "lord").
[23]
 Diocletian's reign also brought the empire's most concerted effort
against the perceived threat of Christianity, the "Great Persecution".
Diocletian divided the empire into four regions, each ruled by a
separate emperor, the Tetrarchy.[24] Confident that he fixed the
disorders that were plaguing Rome, he abdicated along with his co-
emperor, and the Tetrarchy soon collapsed. Order was eventually
restored by Constantine the Great, who became the first emperor
to convert to Christianity, and who established Constantinople as the
new capital of the Eastern Empire. During the decades of
the Constantinian and Valentinian dynasties, the empire was divided
along an east–west axis, with dual power centres in Constantinople
and Rome. The reign of Julian, who under the influence of his
adviser Mardonius attempted to restore Classical
Roman and Hellenistic religion, only briefly interrupted the succession
of Christian emperors. Theodosius I, the last emperor to rule over both
East and West, died in 395 AD after making Christianity the official
religion of the empire.[25]

The Roman Empire by 476, noting western and eastern divisions

The Western Roman Empire began to disintegrate in the early 5th
century as Germanic migrations and invasions overwhelmed the
capacity of the empire to assimilate the migrants and fight off the
invaders. The Romans were successful in fighting off all invaders,
most famously Attila,[26] although the empire had assimilated so many
Germanic peoples of dubious loyalty to Rome that the empire started
to dismember itself.[27] Most chronologies place the end of the Western
Roman Empire in 476, when Romulus Augustulus was forced to
abdicate to the Germanic warlord Odoacer.[28][29][30]
By placing himself under the rule of the Eastern Emperor, rather than
naming a puppet emperor of his own, Odoacer ended the Western
Empire. He did this by declaring Zeno sole emperor, and placing
himself as his nominal subordinate. In reality, Italy was now ruled by
Odoacer alone.[28][29][31] The Eastern Roman Empire, also called
the Byzantine Empire by later historians, continued to exist until the
reign of Constantine XI Palaiologos. The last Roman emperor died in
battle on 29 May 1453 against Mehmed II "the Conqueror" and
his Ottoman forces in the final stages of the Siege of Constantinople.
Mehmed II would himself also claim the title of caesar or Kayser-i
Rum in an attempt to claim a connection to the Roman Empire. [32]